Remembering Don Bruce

Donald ‘Don’ Scott Bruce was born on October 12, 1953. As Donald Bryce he directed, wrote and edited the 1978 film “Carnal Encounters of the Barest Kind”. Don became interested in Sergio Leone in the 1990s and devoted the rest of his life to identifying and locating the many locations used by Leone in Spain, Italy and Ireland. His vision was to use comparison photographs of locations "then and now" which have appeared on several DVDs for the Leone westerns, and turning this research into a book with all profits going to the Motion Picture Home in Calabasas, California.

 
Don and his companion Marla Johnson bought a condominium in San Jose, Spain and spent six years locating and documenting the various locations that Sergio Leone used in his western films. He became friends with the late Aldo Sambrell, Antonio Ruiz, the Leone family and even tracked down Vivienne Chandler via a radio show in Dublin to track down the Irish pub and castle scenes used in “Duck You Sucker”.
 
I was fortunate to meet Don in 2002 through John Nudge’s Spaghetti Western Web Board and then met him at a Hollywood Collectors Show. Together we ventured to another collectors show in Laughlin, Nevada to interview Robert Fuller and get some information on “The Return of the Seven” locations. I spent several weeks as Don and Marla’s guest in Almeria, Spain in 2003 and again in 2005 visiting and locating various Leone film sites in northern and southern Spain.
 
Don was involved with the Leone exhibition at the Autry Museum in 2005 contributing the ciak board used on “Once Upon a Time in the West” during filming in Monument Valley.
 
In 2007 Don became ill and after being hospitalized he returned home only to pass away on December 12th of that year. He was only 54. Many fans can testify to Don's generosity and willingness to share his passion for the Leone westerns.
 
Today we remember a good friend and promoter of the genre Don Bruce on what would have been his 60^th birthday.